On Wednesday, June 17th the Senate passed the Saving the OOI Act with unanimous consent. This bill prohibits dismantling the OOI. The bill had not yet passed the House.
For those unfamiliar, this implies they would have been able to override a presidential veto, so the administration backtracking is just saving the president the embarassment of a defiant congress/disunified party.
The context behind this is head of OMB Russell Vought thinks impoundments - not paying out congressionally authorized funds - is constitutional. So this seems like a legitimate retreat on one of many impoundment issues. It required real pressure from Congress as they try to harden appropriations against an OMB willing to use almost every tactic to not disburse funds.<p>But impoundment issues persist in NASA and other science agencies in particular.<p>Still, it’s a hopeful sign that the constitutional system is not broken completely
Widespread worldwide outrage can bring about change.<p>This seems to be good news without a catch. Am I missing something?
The catch is they’re still the administration.
The only small catch is that NSF did not acknowledge it was illegally withholding funds Congress authorized for the array. And so who knows what might change in the future.<p>Still Congress seemed willing to pressure the administration on the issue and was about to pass a law directly earmarking the project.
I agree. This is a most unexpected ray of hope.
oh to be young again
Hahaha I felt the same way, im like now way this is just a clean nice win, im starting to feel .... hopeful??
That wasn't what brought this change: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593357">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593357</a>
Related (I think). Have there been others?<p><i>U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48560847">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48560847</a> - June 2026 (271 comments)
This is fantastic. Glad to see we’ll be keeping the sensors.
Would it not make sense for the non US funding to rise matched by an independent commission to manage the data harvesting costs and maintenance?
I ran into this lovely cross-survey paper three months ago, and was so thankful: an amazing incredible view of reality, a depth of understanding. It was such a horror to think of ripping up such amazing science!<p><i>Past, present and future of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation</i>
Josep L. Pelegrí<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.05592.109" rel="nofollow">https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.05592.109</a>
positive news?